Whispers Forum

Some UPSC toppers have been habitually uploading personal videos on You Tube, either in self praise of their beauty, pride in getting salutes from IPS, for name and fame. Some take pride in slapping their poor official juniors in full public view. As I write the column, the personal videos of the elite bureaucracy continue to get viral, attracting " viewers' likes" resulting in undeserved and unearned income. Arrogance, snobbery, conceit, deeply rooted in their psyche. For some reasons, officers in DOP&T, their incompetent seniors ,even ministers, turn a blind eye. Worse still, no one in the PMO bothers to inform PM Modi. There is an immediate need for psychiatric intervention for such wayward behaviour of bureaucrats. All at government cost for treating their mercurial temperament, especially the arrogance of the elite bureaucracy. One wonders to what extent the introduction of 360 degree performance appraisal, will help? Should the elites be addressed as civil servants, public servants or public masters ? Sevaks,sevadaars or Maliks? Is the recruitment process flawed or the training modules at LBSNAA and other dedicated training institutes? How could the DOP&T overlook the ongoing non-stop nonsense?
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)

I can't add more to it on views expressed by Sandeep Shukla regarding recruitment scams in various states, unluckily political leaders who really create a womb to these scams to lay eggs of mountain money, walk Scot free, government servants who out of compulsion submit to verbal instructions of political leaders, suffer infinite. The only solution to this is exams online with a laid down standards & quality. The exam should not have any date, it should be a continued process, you score the required percentage and wait in queue for employment. It should be like GRE, GMAT, SATI SATII lines, no of chances be dispensed with, only age be defined for all posts. It should be uniformly applied in States and Centre, even for preliminary examination of civil service too be done on similar lines. Certainly it would improve quality and standards, provided, of course online exam is based on face recognition system. We need revolutionary reforms in recruitment.
Harish Kumar

INS Vikrant was part of the Indian Navy from 1961 to 1997 when it was phased out as it had outlived its normal life. Its process of scrap & research for Indian made started. RDSO Defence Ministry and Indian Navy made all out efforts to achieve this feat from 1997 to 2013. It took another one years from 2013 to 2022 to fully bring it into actual shape. Hats off to all involved and salutes to each team member. Mind it India has walked this wonderful journey in 75 years where all of us small elements of largest democracy as a voter contribute.
Harish Kumar

Information[h1] about loan sanctioned to PG Dyes & Chem which become NPA and about action under SARFAESI Act 2002 was sought. The Indian Overseas Bank submitted that it had come into their knowledge that the appellant had passed away few months back. Moreover, they had provided para-wise reply/information to the appellant. Moreover, PG Dyes & Chem was sold to the Asset Reconstruction Company, therefore, the relevant documents relating to the company were no longer under their custody and was under the custody of the ARC. The CIC observed that as informed by the respondent, the appellant had demised and no successor had impleaded in the matter. Moreover, appropriate reply having been given by the CPIO, there appears to be no public interest in prolonging the matter further.
Comments
Following the murders of some RTI Applicants which shook the country, the CIC had decided that no such RTI applications would abate on the death of the RTI Applicant.
Citation: C Arul Amuthan v. Indian Overseas Bank in Second Appeal No. CIC/IOVBK/A/2020/123471, Date of decision: 31.08.2022
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

The finance minister and the media are gloating over the news that India overtakes UK as the fifth largest economy. UK in size and population is perhaps the size of Tamil Nadu or Gujerath or Maharashtra. UK's economy should be compared with that of one of these states, not the entire India. India's per capita income is $2500 while UK's is $ 48000.
Raghavan
It appears like ‘Khayali Pulao’
We Indians keep reading in the media, both Hindi and English, of a Common Front to fight the 2024 General Elections. Currently it appears like ‘Khayali Pulao’ Everybody wants to be PM . That vaulting ambition is the sinkhole of Opposition Parties of India . It resembles the Black Hole of Calcutta. Democracy of India needs to flourish. A candidate needs to be groomed by the Opposition Parties who have a mass appeal and a clean background. Will our Regional Party leaders cobble up a name , acceptable India wide? A suggestion to the wise , choose a person untainted by the shenanigans of the political ambience - like say John F Kennedy , in the USA, in 1960. His background and grooming was exceptional, and that resulted in mass appeal to the people of America. Can we find a young Indian stalwart of that caliber? Then we will have a Opposition Leader to revive democracy in India as envisaged in our Constitution.
Devindra

Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar have expressed the possibility of opposition unity for a ‘BJP mukt bharat’. It’s true that in the present situation, it is very difficult to vanquish BJP unless the opposition parties unite. But opposition unity appears to be a far-fetched dream and the BJP leaders must be really laughing up their sleeves while KCR, Nitish express such a possibility. Unless a miracle happens, the opposition is most unlikely to unite. Did opposition unite during President, Vice president polls ? Who will be the leader of the united opposition ?
Neha Singh

The rising stars need not be the best performers. Many really dedicated officers are often quiet workers. They do their job honestly and efficiently but not many are aware because they are not good at or do not believe in publicity. They work and deliver out of conviction and a strong sense of duty towards the people they are meant to serve. e.g. a Collector for the people of his/her district. Education Secretary to improve the conditions and standards in the institutions in his charge, etc. They are silent workers. Very often the best.
B K Saha Ex-Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh

A technological marvel and once-in-a lifetime experience. Biggest and smoothest demolition ever in India. Congratulations to hired professionals of the south-African company who made the operation a success. The Noida police, too, merits appreciation. Controlled demolition was executed through water implosion technique to cause minimal collateral damage. The structural stability of adjoining buildings has to be taken up quickly for checking cracks and damage, if any, to the beams and columns. Cracks appearing in existing buildings could pose serious challenges. Settlement of dust by using water cannons and removal of debris (3 months duration) must be on war-footing for the benefit of the asthma and heart patients. This was the positive side of the grand event. Now, consider the negative aspects. Action needed by CBI. On the flip side. The public would be curious in knowing details of politicians including the successive chief ministers of UP, their ministers, the obliging bureaucrats, engineers, architects of Noida and, last but not the least, the successive CEOs of Noida. All had allegedly colluded with the private builder in getting the building plans approved by the “competent authority”, in violation of Building code, environmental guidelines, why frequent changes were made in the number of floors of two towers. Who allowed this? Any political compulsions on the pliable UP/Noida bureaucracy ? For public servants IPC must be invoked. For civil servants and govt. professionals of UP and Noida, Classification, Control and Appeal rules, must be invoked besides IPC. The Noida authorities, one trusts, must have already identified the offenders. Their names along with details must be kept in public domain in year-wise order. The mega project in Noida must have passed through several CMs, enjoying affiliations to different political parties. Ground reality. NOIDA is incorrigible. Any illegal job can be completed by bribing the touts who have free run in and around NOIDA, enjoying direct access to the corrupt insiders. Total lack of transparency in Noida. Everything is hush-hush. Files ‘mischievously’ lost or misplaced, are easily retrievable on payment of bribes- collusive or coercive.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

The appellant sought documents related with reconstitution, partnership, ownership of M/s Manmad Gas Centre, Manmad, Dist: Nashik and other queries related thereto. The appellant contended that neither the reply of the PIO nor that of the FAO has been received by him. Before the CIC, the appellant contended that after filing the second appeal, he has only received one written submission wherein it is mentioned that the reply has already been sent. The respondent HPCL contended that the PIO reply was sent by an ordinary post but the FAO had replied on the email id of the appellant. He further contended that after filing the second appeal, he has only received one written submission wherein it is mentioned that the reply has already been sent. The CIC observed that the appellant had specifically mentioned in his first appeal that he did not receive the reply of the PIO, still the relevant reply had not been furnished by the respondent. The CIC cautioned the respondent to be more careful in future while dealing with the matters related to the RTI Act. The CIC directed the respondent to provide the proof of email sent to the appellant as exists in their records along with their reply of the PIO duly authenticated as per their records by registered post to the appellant.
Comments
As far as possible, the PIO should send a reply to the RTI Application through speed post and retain the proof of sending the reply.
Citation: Dilip Kumar Kachardas Bhandari v. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited in Second Appeal No.CIC/HPCLD/A/2020/682554, Date of decision: 04-07-2022
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com